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The Hawks’ season just ended yesterday, meaning that the team has officially entered the offseason. That begs one question: what do the Hawks need to do to rebound for the 2015-16 season? What are the team’s weaknesses? Who is available for the Hawks to sign?

The way to answer those first two questions is with a status report of where the Hawks are right now. The following Hawks will be free agents this offseason:

Jenkins is likely gone and it appears as if Brand is preparing for retirement. Judging by his status in the Hawks’ rotation in games 3 and 4 of the series against the Cavs, Antic could be on his way out as well. Other factors to consider here are the recovery times for Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha, the play of Mike Scott in the playoffs, and Millsap’s own potential surgery in the offseason.

With all of that in mind, the Hawks will have money that needs to be spent addressing the wing and big positions. One thing that became abundantly clear in the playoffs is that there is no such thing as having too many shooters on the roster. Korver’s cold streak and subsequent absence was a major blow for the Hawks, and while Kent Bazemore made an admirable effort to step in, it was soon clear that the Hawks could use more shooting from the bench. Dennis Schröder is not a shooter (more shots than points in the playoffs) and Mike Scott became too streaky — in addition to his bad defense — to be a reliable option.

The other obvious weakness for the Hawks in the postseason was rebounding. Horford and a less-than-100% Millsap usually held their own, but the bench options of Antic and Scott were not the kind of guys that could remedy rebounding issues whenever the Hawks were in a rut. This issue was amplified upon Sefolosha’s injury, as he provided a rebounding boost from the small forward position when he was on the court. (8.2 rebounds per 36 minutes)

Of course, an important concept to remember here is how the Hawks play. Coach Mike Budenholzer preaches pace and space on offense, and activity, quick hands, and awareness on defense. The best fits for the Hawks are going to be players that exhibit most or all of these attributes.

Finally, something that sticks out heavily, is the salary cap. I will not go into all of the Hawks’ salary cap specifics here, but suffice to say, the Hawks will have money to spend in the offseason. Also important is the NBA’s new TV deal that will start with the 2016-17 season, which will likely send the salary cap soaring to at least $85 million. Because of these, teams may be willing to overpay for free agents this year, as they know those contracts will not be as large of a hit to their cap in the future. Combating that will be whether or not players desire long-term contracts, as they may opt for shorter contracts to take advantage of the future cap spike.

Taking all of that into consideration, I present my free agent targets for the Atlanta Hawks.

YOU PROBABLY WANT THESE GUYS BACK

Paul Millsap, F, Atlanta Hawks
Millsap averaged 16.7 points on 56.5% true-shooting, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists on the season. He was named an All-Star for the second consecutive season and was one of the most important defenders on a team that finished sixth in defensive efficiency. Continue Reading…

The Hawks continued their winning ways on Wednesday night, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies by a score of 96-86 in the NBA’s first ever Tinder “Swipe Right Night”.

Atlanta was again led by starting point guard Jeff Teague, who cracked 20 points for a career-high sixth straight game. Teague took it upon himself to be the closer late in the game when the Hawks needed it, scoring 11 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, including a late 3 where he was wide open in semi-transition.

“We were just playing,” Teague said on both his and Kyle Korver’s late 3-pointers. “It was the flow of the game — early offense. Coach always says if we see something out there that we can do and we have the confidence, we can do it. I felt confident in that shot.”

The whole team seems confident lately and the shot Korver hit showed it best. After getting open in transition, the Hawks’ bench was already celebrating before the shot even went up.

The celebration capped off what had been a hardly fought game between the two teams. While the Hawks were usually the ones holding the lead, the grit and grind play of Memphis allowed them to muck up the game and slowly let the Grizz creep back into it after a few successful possessions. As usual, both Marc Gasol and Mike Conley anchored the team on both ends of the floor, creating the opportunities that Memphis needs in order to win. Continue Reading…

Good god almighty that was an ugly game. The Grizzlies were missing their starting point guard in Mike Conley and that resulted in no flow at all in their offense. The Hawks were as usual missing Al Horford and that resulted in major struggles against the Grizzlies big bruising front line. The Grizzlies perimeter defense was as stifling as usual. The Hawks couldn’t score inside or outside. Bo Churney, the editor here at HawksHoop, actually wondered aloud if the team to get to 60 first would win. It was one of those nights.

Reaction grades [assessed 0-10]:

Paul Millsap: After seeing Millsap struggle against a big and strong front court like the Pacers a few nights ago, I was curious to see if Millsap would be able to handle the Grizzlies big and bruising front court. Millsap handled it just fine, stuffing the box score and doing everything in his power to bring it back in the end. 9/10

DeMarre Carroll: Carroll had himself a game. He was all over the court on offense and defense doing all the little things that you like to see him do. He was cutting off ball, shooting spot up jumpshots, setting screens, you name it and he did it. 8.5/10

Kyle Korver: While Millsap had no problems with the Grizzlies physicality, Korver, on the other hand, did. He was clearly frazzled by the Grizzlies. While he managed to knock down two triples (streak is now at 118) he didn’t contribute much else. 3/10

Jeff Teague: Teague was another player to find himself struggling against the Grizzlies physicality. Teague struggled at creating due to the mix of Nick Calathes and Courtney Lee all over him. When Teague would penetrate he would be swarmed by the likes of Gasol and Randolph. Teague did what he could but 8 points, 4 turnovers, and only one trip to the free throw line is an awful game for someone that got all star consideration earlier this season. 3/10

Gustavo Ayon: Not a bad outing for Goose. Perfect from the field (2-for-2, 6 points) and he grabbed himself eight rebounds. He spent a lot of the game splitting time with Brand. Bud was smart and kept his big men fresh. 6/10Continue Reading…

Good news for the Hawks: Jerryd Bayless likely won’t be hitting everything he throws up when the regular season starts. Bayless scored 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting (5-for-5 on threes in the first half) to lead the Grizzlies to a 90-82 victory in Philips Arena.

Bayless was the only Grizzlies starter to have success on offense, however. The Hawks played very stingy defense on Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, limiting Gasol to 10 points and Randolph to only four field goal attempts.

“They get the ball inside, it’s an emphasis in their offense,” Budenholzer said, “so for us, to get tested like that in the preseason and for Al [Horford] and Paul [Millsap] and everybody to defend the paint and to defend the post pretty decently… I think we’ll learn from that.” Continue Reading…

What to Expect: The Grizzlies had the second-most dominant defense in the entire league last year, made it to the Western Conference Finals, now get to play a full season with their post-Gay era squad which far outplayed their previous installment – and they also got a lot better this offseason.

Of all the “certainties” that can be proclaimed weeks before the 2014 season begins – calling Memphis one of the West’s and league’s best teams is a sound judgement.

The Grizzlies’ biggest issue last season was their offensive spacing. As suffocating as their defense was, oftentimes their offense got them in trouble – with misses leading to transition buckets for the opposition. The problem wasn’t simplicity, more so that the roster lacked shooters to make the offense function fluently. Zach Randolph was doubled and tripled in the post in last year’s Western Conference Finals to no end, all but shutting him down because of perimeter players being unable to make San Antonio pay from outside the arc. These troubles are partially alleviated with the signing of Mike Miller. Continue Reading…

Taking the Hawks seriously yet? Atlanta improved to 12-5 with the win over the Grizzlies, and now have wins over three of the top four teams in the West. (Clippers & Thunder are the other two) This particular game was won in the third quarter, which was a 32-13 advantage for Atlanta. The Hawks outrebounded the Grizzlies on both the offensive and defensive glass, which is a clear improvement over the start of the season when the team couldn’t rebound to save their lives. Hawks have won nine out of the last ten, and could potentially take first place in the East against the Heat, pending that the Knicks lose to the Nuggets tomorrow.

Reaction Grades:[assessed 0-10]

Josh Smith: He dominated Rudy Gay on both offense and defense, and is really starting to come out of his slump. Over his last five games, he’s averaging 22-11-4-2-2 on 48% shooting, and 50% (!!!) three-point shooting. His four turnovers aren’t enough to deduct a point from this one, in my opinion. 10/10

Al Horford: Al had his motor going in this one, pulling in six offensive rebounds and ending with 19 points and 14 total boards. His hustle was extremely evident tonight, and was one of the best things to watch in this game. (even though it led to him getting poked in the eye once. =/ ) 9/10

Zaza Pachulia: I know LD likes to set up the starting lineup based on team-to-team matchups, but Zaza has earned serious consideration as a full-time starter. The team plays better when he’s on the court, and both NBA.com and Basketball-Reference rate lineups that have a Smoove/Horford/Zaza frontcourt among the Hawks’ best. 7/10

Jeff Teague: He rebounded nicely from that horrific shooting game he had against the Wizards, but his work around the rim still needs work. He helped keep Conley under control for the most part, and had no turnovers for only the second time this season. 7/10

Lou Williams: Lou had a pretty poor start to the game (1-6 in the first half), but then went supernova in the third quarter, hitting back-to-back-to-back threes in the middle of an 18-0 Atlanta run. Admittedly, that stretch made him a little jumper happy, but that stretch was a huge reason why the Hawks won this game. 7/10Continue Reading…